


Blue Skies

by stharridan



Series: Bells and Candy [19]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-30
Updated: 2012-05-30
Packaged: 2017-11-06 07:58:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/416556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stharridan/pseuds/stharridan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They used to be just two simple people struggling to survive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue Skies

"Blue skies in the mornin' and clear skies at night. It's memories like that," she said, "that remind me of you, Ken-chan." She turned to face him and found him staring wordlessly at the horizon. "Not Captain Zaraki, but just Ken-chan."

The silence that settled upon them then was one that rarely seeped into their lives. Yachiru couldn't remember the last time they came to such an abrupt pause, or if they ever did, but she found that she quite liked it.

The calming, peaceful sunset was all that she could see. The sunset and his bells, jingling softly in the cool evening breeze. She had always wondered where he got those ornaments from. She didn't recall seeing anything of the sort when they were still out in the Rukongai, but she didn't mind them. She just liked playing with them, poking them around and laughing at the way his face scrunched up in annoyance. It was precious, the way she could get on his nerves without ever fearing his blade.

She reached out a hand and flicked the bell on his lowest spike. It gave a sharp, familiar tinkle that made her laugh, but he seemed to not notice anything.

"Ken-chan, what's wrong?" She frowned and climbed into his lap. "Somethin' I said?"

He closed his eyes as the sun's final rays cast an orange glare onto his face and lay down on his back, arms stretched above his head. Yachiru came to settle on his chest, crouched like a squirrel, and peered down at him through eyes as wide and inquisitive as the day she first met him. And then he cracked open his uncovered eye and grinned up at her, the kind of grin that he always sported whenever he thought she was a little too gutsy for her age yet still loved her for it.

"And I thought all ye could do was yap for candy and be nothin' but a pain in my ass." He reached out, ran his fingers through her hair. She smiled despite herself, taking comfort in that gesture, a gesture that she was fond of beyond words. It felt like he approved of her, accepted her voiced thoughts without reservations.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's none of yer business." He tucked his hands under his head, allowing his eyes to drift to a close once again. "Now shut up. I wanna take a nap 'fore we go off to hunt down some hollows."

She lit up with a beam at that, leaning so far down that the tip of her nose touched his chin. "We're gonna hunt hollows?"

"Not if ye don't shut up, brat."

With her index finger pressed to her shut lips, she slid down his torso and came to sit beside him with her knees drawn up to her chest. Now she could see shades of purple dropping down low over the sun, as if urging it back behind the mountains in the distance. Without much thought, she lay down and curled up against his side, his much larger frame dwarfing her own.

She liked being this close to him, so warm and so comforting. She often burrowed and made her "nest" in the back of his haori where she would hang on, hidden away from sight, until she decided to pop up or until he confirmed their surroundings to be safe for her. His steady breathing, the rise and fall of his chest, the low guttural sound deep in his throat – all of that was just no different than when they were back in the Rukongai. They had been no one but Yachiru and Ken-chan, simple people just struggling to survive.

Now, even though he had to take care of paperwork and ignore her, even though they had to go on dangerous missions and he had to attend boring captains' meetings, she still saw their prestigious, respectable ranks as nothing but masks behind which they masqueraded.

It didn't affect her. They were still Ken-chan and 'Chiru, and as he curled an arm around her to bring her close, she knew then that nothing would ever change between them.


End file.
